I've seen it done beautifully *right,* too, in various forms, which makes the bad ones more painful.

This makes me think... is there a way a savvy person could document this lapse of professional standards? I'd put the recipe for that on my blog in a heartbeat just in case somebody could hold one of these folks accountable for this kind of stuff.

"Blackboard, WebCT, Campus Cruiser, homegrown content and learning delivery systems , etc. generally offer tutorial information, but all too often educational institutions merely regurgitate the tutorial information. Presenting information does not mean that learning has taken place. I've heard too many times from the IT folks, "Why don't they know how to use Blackboard? We offer workshops each semester.""

It's not just understanding how to use the basic tools and features of a delivery system. Course developers and creators can create extremely confusing and frustrating courses. I have found myself "Clicking in Circles" trying to find a particular handout to download for the particular assignment I'm supposed to be working on on a particular day. You click on the course outline link and then on the explanation for the day and then on the calendar and then on the discussion forum, and then on and so on and so forth until you find a link to the handout which was actually never uploaded to the server so you can't download it anyway! You send an email to the instructor and 4 days later you get a reply saying it works fine on their computer! etc...

Barry Bakin
ESL Teacher Adviser
Division of Adult and Career Education
Los Angeles Unified School District

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